New York state has started accepting applications to open its first recreational pot shops.
shops, taking a novel approach by reserving the initial roughly 150 retail dispensary licenses for people with past pot convictions or their relatives.
New York officials have emphasized that they want to make sure the new industry provides opportunity to people who bore the brunt of drug law enforcement, which fell disproportionately on Black and Latino people. It's a "unique strategy that we’re implementing to try to make sure that those most impacted have real opportunity to participate here," state Office of Cannabis Management Executive Director Chris Alexander said at a virtual news conference.First-round license requirements also include experience running a business that was profitable for at least two years.